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The meet results are in from this weekend, so I can take a look at my splits and do a little analysis. My youngest son Aaron, AKA the Lap Counter, also took video of my 400 IM and 100 Back events, so I had some things to look at... maybe too many things to look at! At some point I'll select some of the better quality segments and post short vids on the forums for the butterfly and backstroke lanes to get some feedback. The freestyle looks like it needs a lot of work too, but it's hard to say if what I was seeing (especially on that first freestyle length of the 4IM) was the result of fatigue, trying to catch my breath, or not... the second length, what I can see of it in the video, looked a little smoother. The breast stroke is just really slow and I can tell that I'm still dealing with flexibility issues in my feet, ankles and hips, which is really limiting my kick. My favorite part of the 400 IM footage that Aaron shot is hearing him in the background after the turn at about the 150 mark saying "Aw, come on... it's not over yet!"

My fly really needs help, but my back and free times were pretty consistent; given what I saw, maybe some technique changes will help me to drop more time in back and free too.

I'll have to write about my 1650 splits at some other point. For now I just wanted to record my last couple of days of recovery swimming. Monday I did 3000 SCY/64 minutes:250 EZ free250 br250 bk5 x 50 fly on 1:20
1000 on 19:00 (17:10)300 back300 breast
400 EZ fr

Had a good afternoon: helped my wife with the kids that she nanny's and got a nap in, bonus. Then I helped one of the guys from Bible Study with a project: he recently became an ordained preacher and is planting a church in our town. I went door to door with him, inviting folks to an Easter evening service that will also be the first for his church. Not beating folks about the head with the Bible (that doesn't work too well), but just inviting them to come and check out how God is using Peter. I will also help on Sunday by greeting folks at the door and probably ushering - I feel blessed to help him and be involved in this great answer to prayer.

Tonight I finally tried a fun set from JBS's blog: Swedish 2:01. I have been wanting to try it for a while, and figured that GregJS would be the perfect victim, er, companion, to give it a go.

W/u: 100 Fr/100 Bk/100 Kick/100 Pull

Stole this set from Aquageek: the Swedish 2:01. As he described it:
"1. Start at the :40
2. Swim a 100, which has to be completed before the :00 (so, under 1:20)
3. Start the next 100 at the :41 (hence the 2:01 portion)
4. Again, this 100 has to be completed by the :00.
5. Start the next 100 on the :42.
6. Again, this 100 has to be completed by the :00.
7. This continues, always starting the 100 2:01 after the previous one and finishing before you see :00 on the clock.
8. Go until you fail."

We left on the :30 to start, something that JBS has been doing. I also set it up that if you fail, you drop distance down to 75's. We ran out of time, but we did make it to the :50 sendoff. I basically did rounds of 4 x100:
1. Fly, Bk, Br (barely made it), Fr
2. Fly, Bk, IM, Fr
3. Fly, Bk, IM, Fr
4. Fly, Bk, IM, Fr
5. Fly (-2), Bk (+1, fail), IM (+3, fail), Fr (went 1:03)

Glad I was finally able to do that set. As JBS had explained in one of his posts, it seems "fine" for a bit in the beginning, but then the :00 starts to come at you super fast and the extra rest doesn't seem to be all that helpful! I figured I would only be able to sneak in one full Br, so switched to IM's. I noticed that time was running out for practice so I loafed the last Bk, but I was honestly trying to make the last IM. Then I wanted to make the last one a fast one, and it hurt.

In oddball news, I finished the jug of Cookies and Cream whey protein powder that I bought - it was nasty and I just wanted to get through it! Back to regular old chocolate, which I sometimes add a smidge of peanut butter to. I got an email that it will change from 26 grams of protein per scoop to 30 soon, and I might try the strawberry flavor when that happens. I almost always mix it with 3 ounces of skim milk, and I was able to get a knockoff Magic Blender from Aldi's for $15 so mixing is a breeze. After every workout, so today I drank two.
Now off to

Comments:
I slept 10 hours last night, which is not so easy for me to do these days. I hope to repeat it again sometime, as it made a huge difference in my day.

The workout today was mostly technical and recovery. Started out swimming with fins-snorkel-paddles for steady state smooth 6-kick freestyle with partial CU into EVF pull, followed by swimming with paddles-buoy-tube breathing at 3 strokes striving for strong steady pull with hip rotation. Then finally swimming the 50s with no equipment combining the steady smooth 6-kick with strong hip centered rotational pull, breathing mostly at 3 strokes and sometimes each cycle.

Finished installation of the remaining strut on Sra..__steve__ 's car. Two bolts, after being torqued from factory 18 years ago, were stuck. Had to use a 12" extension to my breaker bar, unsuccessfully. Added another extension to the extension, bingo! However, the worst was yet to come.

Long story short, was in driveway working my way out of this pickle until 2 am! And my body was feeling the fatigue from the weight session earlier

Nevertheless, car now handles and performs like new, but most importantly, is safe. However bad luck does occur and I discovered her radiator has a crack with a very small pinhole leak. Uhhhhg! Years ago I unknowingly used the green antifreeze, went through this with my car last year - she will need a new radiator soon.

At least I can be at ease knowing her car is much safer to drive with a functioning suspension.

Kiefer posted this on twitter the other day and it really got me thinking that starting late is better than nothing at all. I sometimes lose motivation when I have time to swim but can't get started on time, so I hope that others out in USMS-land can find some encouragement. Today I planned to get in for 50 minutes or so (after dropping my son off at school), but my daughter was still at home at 8 waiting for her ride to NYC. So, my plans (happily) changed as I was able to spend a few extra moments with her before swimming.

Spoke with Steve this morning, one of the age group coaches that sometimes swims with our Masters team but also competes. Additionally, he is a ref and just received his USAS level 2 certification for that (although I probably have the terminology wrong), so he is eligible to officiate at a Zones meet. I think that it is really cool that he is getting the additional training, and he might possibly try to go farther and look to officiate for the next trials. He is a retired principal and loves all aspects of swimming, so it has been great getting to know him more these past few years. Needless to say, my swimming time (again, happily) was reduced a tad ...

Just cranked through the above, somewhat distracted by the moderate construction doing on near the hallway to the showers. Our facility has no "family" changing area, and kids under the age of 3 are not allowed in the lockerroom of the opposite sex, so there have been some issues raised. The Rec is converting a utility room into a family area with a shower (which they were moving into posistion today) to help make the trip in for swimming more enjoyable to all. Since the major construction last summer (that closed the pool for two months), there is storage space on deck that makes this a great option.

Off to not do too much today, then might give the Sweedish 2:01 a try tonight with the Masters group.

I haven't been in the pool for about a 11 days. Gymnastics out of town, child #2 with the flu, being more of a Mr Mom and work have all helped contribute to my lack of pool time. Everything felt surprisingly great except for freestyle. I stole most of this from Sue Mangan's blog and just swam through it.